David Heyman Offers New Insight Into Challenges of "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" Epilogue Scene
DH Film
Posted by: Stephanie_J
August 06, 2011, 11:30 AM
The LA Times has published a new interview with Harry Potter producer David Heyman about the challenges the cast and crew faced when filming the epilogue scene in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2."
On the decision to not cast older actors to play Harry, Ron and Hermione:
“After all we have been through with these characters, the way that a generation has grown up with them, they need to be the ones on screen when it’s time to bring it to a close,” said Heyman, who was a key decision-maker back when Radcliffe and his costars were first cast in their roles back in 2000. “There’s an expectation — even if it is not articulated — that they need to be on the screen when it’s coming to an end.”
Why the first epilogue shoot didn't work:
“Rupert looked like he was about 75 years old with the triple chin and the belly, he looked like he had really lived as a lush,” Heyman said. “We knew we needed to rework the makeup. There was another problem, too, shooting at the train station proved quite challenging for some of the younger kids who played the children of Harry, Ron and Hermione. It was really noisy every few minutes a train from Liverpool would pull in on one of the other tracks. We only had our one track closed.”
How re-shooting the epilogue scene at Leavesden Studios "made all the difference in the world:"
Heyman has said the hushed control of the Leavesden soundstages provided “the place to get the needed intimacy” but the timing also created the unexpected benefit of making the epilogue the “true” last scene made by the young stars. Film scenes are rarely shot in the same order they are shown on-screen but in this instance the farewell feeling brought an evocative gravity to the day.
“We should have thought to film it last in the first place,” Heyman said Wednesday. “It created a reality of sorts to the feelings in the scene and in the air. And I think now we’ve heard from the rest of the world that it worked. In the end, we used some shots from King’s Cross, too, to make a hybrid. There was a little bit of CG as well. The combination is subtle, which it needed to be.”
61 Comments
14500 Points
first comment ! lol i saw this again last night, the first time i didnt cry, but last night i cried sooo much ! great job guys ! this scene was amazing !
196 Points
I think Harry looked great and Daniel Radcliffe did a great job. the scene was actually better the second time I watched the movie. :)
27 Points
Well I’m glad they used the same actors!!! That last shot of the movie, with the trio watching their kids leave for Hogwarts, with the original music in the background, it makes me cry every time I see it!!
73 Points
I think the epilog make-up job and performances for the trio is perfectly convincing, esp. for Daniel. Some people snark that Emma looks no different at all, but I disagree. Look at the photo. She looks like a 30something who has retained much of her looks, like I would expect someone with Emma’s features to look to when she reaches 37. The make-up is subtle, but authentic.
179 Points
Heck, the “kids” are so much older now, they should have realized that not much make-up would be needed lol.
1638 Points
I agree, they really looked great. I’m quite happy with the epilogue.
217 Points
It’s a little awkward, to be honest: there was some sniggering in my theatre when we saw an older Dan with golden rimmed glasses…
217 Points
I wonder if we’ll ever get to see images from the first shooting session at King’s Cross? Apart from the ones that leaked months ago!
I wouldn’t expect them to have to look much older; you don’t age that much between your late teens and mid-thirties.
4133 Points
They all looked great though Emma didn’t look much different.
483 Points
We’ll in my opinion, I couldn’t of asked for a better epilogue. You could definetly tell that it was the last scene they shot. I felt that heaviness of emotion in the scene. Saw it three times and that scene still makes me cry every time.
Dan carried the scene pleasingly speaking lines directly from the book. Emma’s make-up needed a little bit more ageing -not much -but a little. Bonnie looked OK Rupert -as ever, just OK.
406 Points
I thought they all looked great. I liked the last scene and I’m glad they made the choice to use the real Harry, Ron and Hermione (and Draco).
They made a lot of good choices through the years of filming all the Harry Potter movies, and it really shows in the last one especially.
Good on you, WB and Heyman, et al.
The epilogue was the only scene that disappointed me, sorry. I felt it was way too short. All the talk about Remus and Tonk’s son, little Scorpio, Neville—absent. And the most important line in the book, “All was well” was absent. I really wish they had filmed it exactly as it happened in the book.
How on earth could “All was well” be translated into a scene in a film ??
After all, no one says it as dialogue in the book.
first comment ! lol i saw this again last night, the first time i didnt cry, but last night i cried sooo much ! great job guys ! this scene was amazing !